Date Thursday 08/04/2060, Location 50.10234, 43.23581

The seconds ticked by, first five, then ten. Then, the muscle car started to move, very slowly – backwards. The driver wasn't even touching the accelerator it seemed, just letting the torque of the engine move them slowly and gently backwards, opening the distance between them.

"Take them or let them go, Kai?" Aswon called over the radio. Up on the hill, he adjusted his aim a millimetre, keeping the crosshairs on the scope centred over the reflective windshield, laid on where the driver should be sitting.

"Let them go, we have the package, that's what we came for."

"Ok then, I have you covered. Keep your faces away from the car until he's left."

The driver hit the throttle, gently at first, but then a little more firmly, and the car accelerated backwards down the road. Tyres crunched over stray bits of fairing and other debris from the trashed motorbikes. When the car hit about thirty kilometres per hour, the engine starting to whine in complaint, the car slewed around sharply as the driver yanked on the handbrake, pulling a tight turn, and then accelerating hard back down the road towards the city. Slowly the team straightened up from behind cover, looking around at the scene.

Bodies lay everywhere, strewn across the road and mixed in with the wreckage of motorbikes and lumps of shattered and twisted metal. The security van lay on its side, broken glass in a large arc around the cab and with blood dripping out of the back section where the pureed bodies pooled their collective life force out into the river of claret slowly working its way towards the drain at the side of the road.

Up on the ridge, Aswon and Hunter maintained their vigil. As the car sped away, Hunter started to lose sight of him, and even the powerful scope mounted on Aswon's rifle started to struggle. A flash caught his attention, and he panned the scope up, catching the blue strobing light from vehicles heading their way from town.

"Heads up, we have the police inbound. Estimate 60 seconds. Get out of there."

Marius restarted the mining truck, listening with concern at the tortured noise from the power train. It had sustained fairly major damage, and he very carefully tested the steering and controls, hoping that it would last until they were back in the quarry. The others grabbed their gear and Monty, laying him carefully on the load bed for the journey back up the hill – all apart from Tads. She wandered over to the first pile of motorbikes and started to check them out, looking to see if she could find a working vehicle.

Aswon tracked the first police cruiser as it headed their way, realising that although it had the blue lights on, there was no trace of sirens to disturb the night air, and it also wasn't travelling that fast – it was like they were out for a Sunday drive. He snorted to himself, and then wondered if he was being paid at the rate that they were if he'd drive flat out into a gun battle between a dozen vehicles and a team of Shadowrunners. He watched as they slowed, and then blinked as the muscle car pulled up next to them. Dialling back the magnification on the scope a little, he saw the two cars get close and stop, pulling up with their drivers' windows no more than an arm's length apart. He had no idea what was said, but it was clear that the police car had no intention of arresting or questioning the occupants, despite the carnage that was visible down the road.

"The police car and the muscle car have stopped for a chat. That has to make them local organised crime, and the police are probably on the take. We don't want to get questioned by these people…" he murmured over the microphone. Another flash of light attracted his attention and he nestled his eye back to the scope and checked again, spotting an ambulance appear around the corner, heading towards the police car and their location.

With everyone but Tads onboard, Marius eased the vehicle into motion, feeling it kick and complain under his touch. One of the wheels must have been bent as there was a regular twitch under the chassis, and he could smell something heating up from the engine bay – presumably they'd lost some coolant somewhere during the fight. Kai glanced back over his shoulder at Tads and whistled to attract her attention, but she glanced over and then waved at him, making a gentle shooing motion. He shrugged, and then concentrated on holding Monty steady with one hand and keeping hold of the sniper rifle with the other as their truck limped up the switchback hill.

Tads took a deep breath, and then turned towards the spirit, which was still over by the security van, finishing the pulverisation of the driver. It seemed to be taking the job very seriously, working out some major anger issues. Tads headed over that way and coughed to attract its attention.

"Um, hello? Excuse me. Thank you for helping us, but I think we're all done now. It looks like the police are here, so you might want to think about leaving." The spirit looked at her blankly, the stone 'head' being particularly good of course at giving a blank expression. The loose collection of rocks and stones turned slightly, appearing to regard the two cars up the road. The police car started to head towards them, while the muscle car pulled away, heading back towards town. And a moment later, the huge stone legs started a purposeful stride towards the oncoming police car. "Oh crap. I'd really rather you didn't go over there? Hello? I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend you or anything, and I'm not sure if this is even going to work. I ORDER you not to attack the police car!" The figure seemed unimpressed.

Above her, on the first switchback, Marius drove the vehicle slowly and carefully. Kai listened as Tads gave him a brief situation update, and then raised himself up slightly, letting the rifle lean against the dashboard to free up a hand so he could cup it around his mouth.

"HEY! STOP MOVING!" the words rippled and vibrated oddly as he flexed his vocal cords, shaping power into the commands. The spirit twisted slightly, apparently listening to him for a moment, but the pace didn't slow, and it slowly rotated back towards the approaching car with the inexorableness of an avalanche.

The huge craggy figure continued to close on the police car, which slowed and then stopped entirely, just at the edge of the scene. The spirit walked around to the driver's side of the car and then leant forward, thrusting not only its head but most of its shoulders and one arm into the car through the open window. The driver must have squirmed out of the way sharpish, as there were no screams of terror or howls of pain though. She had no idea what it was doing, but at least it wasn't ripping anyone's spine out or tearing the roof of the car off.

Tads moved back, heading towards the edge of the road and started to climb the slope, moving carefully until she found a large boulder embedded into the hillside that she could crouch beside. She was far enough back from the scene that she would be difficult to spot, but close enough that she could keep an astral eye on things and spot if the police bought in a mage to look at the scene for magical evidence.

After about thirty seconds, the spirit moved away from the police car to the side of the road, standing on the pavement and then appearing to slump slightly. Somehow it looked less alive – no longer a pile of huge animated boulders, and instead now looking like an improbable cairn, with stones precariously balanced and on the verge of falling. Yet she could still see that the spirit was there, it just appeared to be….waiting. Paused in its destruction.

The doors opened and two policeman emerged, and started to sweep through the area. One of them used his phone to take some pictures as he moved around, along with some notes, while the second moved after him to collect up the weapons and spare ammunition, moving it to near their car and neatly lining it up. The ambulance arrived, disgorging two paramedics, who spoke with the policeman collecting the guns for a moment, then started to follow him around, checking bodies. From their body language it was clear they didn't expect to find any survivors, and were not rushing – but neither did they seem surprised or curious at all, like this was just another day of normal activity.

Hunter watched the cops too, snorting a little, a grin slowly forming on his face. Aswon glanced at him, watching the smile spread.

"What are you happy about?"

"Look at them. Either complete amateurs, or they just don't care. Not bagging the guns, not even wearing gloves. They're just recovering the loot, putting it in piles – rating it by quality by the looks of things. Most of those are going straight out the back door of the police station by the looks of things, not the evidence room. You mark my words. Good news for us though, they don't give a shit who did what to who, they're just keeping a lid on things." Aswon grunted, then sighted down his scope, examining the piles of guns and watching the body language of the policemen as they moved unhurriedly around the scene.

A fire truck arrived soon after, but following a cursory examination and a quick chat with the officer, they did an awkward turn and headed back towards town. Marius managed to nurse the mining truck to the top of the slope, and eased past his truck, giving it a very careful look as they drove past it. Once on the downslope, he let gravity do most of the work, just keeping the badly shot up vehicle to a reasonable speed and to the centre of the runway as they descended back towards the smuggler base.

"Vishtar, this is Kai. We have the target recovered, closing in now. Where do you want him taking?"

"Bring him to the rec area I guess, and we'll work out what to do with him."

"Copy that, there in about ten minutes. Where do you want the truck leaving?"

"Leave it by the tunnel to the rec-area, just make sure it's as close to the tunnel edge as you can so there's room to get past it." Kai made sure that Marius had heard and understood the instructions, then sat back in his seat, enjoying the ride through the night air and letting his mind wander a little as he relaxed. A thought crossed his mind, bringing a deep frown with it.

"Oh, and one last thing – our Shaman called a spirit to help us. A mountain spirit. It seemed a bit odd. Is that ok? Anything we need to do?"

"Did she? Oh my. Well, don't worry about it, I'm sure it's fine." Kai thought he heard the edge of humour in the response, but it could have just been the poor quality reception of the mine radio that mislead him. He sat back as they drove seemingly straight into the cliff face, hoping to hell that Marius had the right bit of cliff memorised – though with over eighty metres to aim for, perhaps it wasn't that hard. They flashed into the tunnel, and drove along the tunnel, the vehicle bouncing and groaning over the rougher surface of the cave floor.

Back at the gate, Aswon and Hunter checked around the truck, collecting all the brass shells and keeping half an eye on the scene below. The medics were now working through the bodies, putting them in body-bags and lining them up at the side of the road while the police slowly cleared the weapons into a container and move bits of debris around. A tow truck had arrived, and was started to collect the motorbikes, performing an assessment on them and loading them onto the back of his truck.

Tads worked her way around the side of the battle scene, approaching the spirit as carefully as she could. When she got next to it, she lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper.

"I'm sorry if I offended you. I meant it for the best."

A small string of rubble animated up from the side, forming a rough approximation of an arm and three fingered hand, which then somewhat patronisingly patted her on the head. She thought for a moment, and decided not to be offended – after all, she'd seen it beat someone to death only a few minutes ago, taking great joy in the act which was unusual for spirits normally. So, on the whole she could put up with a little condescension and being able to walk away. So she did. It took her several minutes to work her way back, climbing up the slope to the gate – but at least she was fit and hardy, so the steep slope didn't prove to be much of an obstacle. By the time she had reached the top, Aswon and Hunter had finished clearing up and she joined them in the truck, as they returned to the smuggler base, watching the gate to the quarry close behind them at the touch of a button from the guard watching silently from the gatehouse.

Back inside the caves, Marius parked up at the side of the wide tunnel leading to pod 1 as instructed, then carefully carried their target through into the recreation area, laying him on one of the cheap tables with his legs dangling off the end. Kai saw Shimazu wince in pain, and pulled him over for a look, giving him an expert going over.

"You're fine, for now. And the blood has pretty much stopped oozing. I don't want to open that back up here, we'll save it for back at the chopper when we can clean the area first. Here, have a couple of these for now." He proffered a couple of huge painkillers to Shimazu who looked at them with distrust for a moment while he studied them, before popping them into his mouth and washing them down with a quick gulp of water. While Shimazu was distracted, looking at the ceiling as he swallowed the water, Kai leant forward and expertly jabbed him with a hidden syringe, injecting him with broad spectrum antibiotics, coagulating agents and some chemical whose name was staggeringly long – but helped greatly with wound closures. Shimazu flinched and gave him a dirty look, but declined to take any action.

With a snort, then a groan, the figure on the table squirmed a little, then groggily recovered consciousness. Hi eyes widened, but it was clear from the size of his pupils and the defocussed look that he wasn't tracking properly. His hand flapped to his side, trying to pull his pistol as he took in the weirdly distorted faces of the people looking down at him as they surrounded him on the table. They quickly moved to restrain him – as much to stop him pulling bandages loose as because they thought he was actually dangerous.

"Whoa, steady there, steady. It's ok – you're safe. You're in the base. Vishtar sent us out to come get you from the guys chasing you. You're ok. Calm down, you took a burst of fire in the back, and it was touch and go for a few minutes, but we've got all the guys that were chasing you, and you're in the tunnels now." Kai's voice was smooth, low-pitched and carefully modulated, and as he talked they felt the wounded man start to relax under their grip, then stop struggling entirely. "I'm just going to check on the bandages and make sure you're not bleeding. Sorry if this hurts."

Kai started to check him over, and in turn the figure on the table began to sob – Kai stopped, but the sobbing continued, and it was clear that it wasn't physical pain that was the issue.

The room had gone quiet, Kai, Marius and Shimazu listening uncomfortably as the stress bled off from the stranger – along with the rest of the occupants. Perhaps a minute passed and the sobs turned to sniffles, and then just ragged breathing, and they waited in silence. Kai looked up and around, making eye contact with each group. Mamma Bear was on her own, actually walking towards them with a pair of water bottles. The Zephyr crew were sitting with drinks of their own, listening quietly, though not looking their way. On the other side of the cavern the dwarf and the gnome listened, staring over at them with no shame or guilt on their faces, not looking away when Kai stared at them for a moment. And, at the next table over was a pair of trolls, one male and the other female, along with a slender Japanese man wearing some kind of uniform and peaked hat.

Mamma Bear walked over and around to the head of the table, then held up one of the bottles of water, letting Monty snag it out of her hands.

"Oh Monty, looks like you ran outta luck this time my friend." Monty looked at her sadly, big brown eyes welling up with tears. "Lemme talk to Rocket in the morning when he's back, k. Until then, these folk seem to have their heads screwed on, I'm sure they'll look after you. Enjoy your drink." Monty nodded at her, toasting her silently with the opened bottle, the plastic bottles making a crinkling noise as they were pushed together. Mamma Bear looked at Kai for a moment, but just nodded at him, before pushing herself back from the table and turning to leave the rec area. As she was leaving, Hunter, Aswon and Tads passed her in the opening, and she gave them a nod in passing.

One of the trolls pushed himself up and out of the chair, squeezing out from the plastic table and collecting a large box from his side, before wandering over. He picked up the box and placed it on the table next to them, flicking open the catches, before pulling out a large accordion and sliding the harness over his shoulders, snugging the instrument to his chest. He spoke, and instead of the big, gruff rumble that was common to trolls, or people that size, instead the voice came out in a softly spoken mid-range pitch, with an accent that defied initial description. He also seemed to be talking to Kai, not Monty.

"Hello there, stranger. Has our friend here had any Morphine or other drugs of that type?" Kai shook his head at the troll, wondering where this was going. "Ahh, excellent. Here you go then, something to take away the pain a little." A large brown calloused hand reached over and carefully plucked the water bottle out of Monty's hand, then replaced it with a highly decorated glass bottle from an inside pocket. Monty struggled with the lid for a moment, then a strong smell of schnapps filled the air as he sipped from the bottle.

"Tell us a bit about you, and we'll try to help you out." Kai said, pitching his voice low, and putting a smile on his face.

"The name's Monty," he managed to get out, smacking his lips and swallowing, trying to get some moisture into his mouth. Shimazu lifted his head slightly and Monty poured a little alcohol in-between his lips, letting him swallow the cool liquid in slow, steady gulps. "Ahh, cheers Pal. That's better. Who sent you?"

"Vishtar asked us to come and get you, said your rep was solid. And we didn't have anything more important to do…" The figure on the table sipped again, then coughed as the alcohol tickled the back of his throat. When he spoke again, he lapsed into French. Hunter leant in and started to translate for them…

"Well, I owe you, owe you all. Yeah, most folk call me Monty. We were just coming back from a job, getting ready to hand over the goods. Run had gone smooth, like clockwork really. Nice professional job, no mus. But Pike said he had a feeling. Pike's the boss. Well, I guess was." Monty closed his eyes for a moment and his jaw muscles flexed a little. "Was the boss. But yeah, said he just felt a little on edge, so he had me go wide on one side, and got Stickshift to stay in the van, ready to bug out. But we popped the Steel Lynx out in the bushes on the other side of the road, as insurance." He accepted another sip of liquid via Shimazu, then coughed again, before continuing with his tale.

"There were a lot of them, a lot more than we expected. Must have been more than thirty of the dirty two-timing bastards. Spread out all over the place as well, they were. Seemed friendly to start with, but put us all on edge. But we'd got the chemicals they wanted, and we hoped they were just being careful. So Pike and Mooch goes out to meet 'em, and I'm up on the hill keeping eyes on, while Stick is piloting the drone. Then, just as we're about to take payment, one of 'em at the back pulls out some kinda missile launcher, and the next thing you know BOOM, the drone is toast. Then it all goes to hell. I can hear Stick on the radio getting another drone ready to launch, I'm servicing targets one after another. Pike gets hit, goes down pretty hard, but he's still functional. Shot him right in the belly plate. Mooch lets off one of his powerball spells, I think – certainly I see a good five or so of 'em burst open as he gives 'em what for." He closed his eyes again, and a single tear forced its way out of the corner of his eye, collecting some colour from the soot and dirt on his face.

"Next thing I see is Mooch taking a burst to the face, from one of the guys doing the exchange. Some kinda machine pistol, but I see the back of his head explode outwards, poor bugger. Ain't no way he was surviving that. Pike's still shooting, taking out kneecaps from the floor, but I see him get buried under some guys, and the knives are going in. I shoot until I run dry, must have taken out a good ten or so. Some of them have gotten to the van, and they use some kinda burning bar to crack open the back door, then I think they dropped a grenade in. Sure as hell there was a loud bang and smoke everywhere, can't see how Stickshift got outta there with his hide intact."

"And me, I bugged out. The rest of the team were dead, and I'm red on ammo. So it's time for Mrs Mountford's boy to Foxtrot Oscar. 'Cept I must have been seen, because they sure as hell chased me. I boosted the first thing I could find and made for the quarry, and got on the phone screaming for help. And I guess you came. So yeah, I owe you one."

Hunter finished translating, then silence filled the room for a moment. It was broken when there was a click from the catch on the accordion and the sound of the troll checking a few settings on the accordion. He started to play, his massive calloused fingers delicately moving over the keys with deceptive grace. After he had played for a few seconds he launched into a ditty, tapping time with his foot and keeping up a fast pace on the instrument. His voice soared, filling the cavern with a sweet melody that sounded more like something you would hear on a trid-station or music hall than some out of the way smuggler base. Aswon glanced at him curiously, and then his eyes widened as he saw the slight buildup of magical power around the troll.

As he watched he saw the troll concentrating hard as he belted out the bawdy and disgusting lyrics to some old song that had Hunter smirking like a five year old – he apparently had heard the song before at some point and knew what was coming – and saw the troll drop into astral space for a moment, checking out Monty. The tribesman realised that he was watching someone use a metamagic technique known as centering, gathering his magical energies to focus his mind and powers to better achieve something. Where ancient samurai had performed sword katas and priests used meditation or chanting in Latin, it was apparent that this troll used singing or playing his instrument as his method of channelling and focussing power. Aswon watched him carefully, looking for signs of active magical use, but he appeared to be content with just looking – though he was assensing Monty deeply and thoroughly. Well, if he wanted to check him out and ensure he wasn't dying or affected by some malady, that was fine with him.

Kai leant to the left and put his hand in his right pocket, pulling out his commlink and flipping the screen open. He read the message there, and then quickly typed in a response, closed the screen and replaced it in his pocket. Looking up, he saw a couple of the team watching him with a curious expression. Aware that the troll, who they still didn't have a name or identity for was well within earshot, he thought for a moment before speaking.

"Our fixer from the last job, just wanting to know if we were able to talk about some forthcoming work. I said yes. No details yet though."

He looked up as he caught sight of someone entering the room from the far end, watching as Vishtar appeared out of the "crew only" tunnel, and made his way over to them. Vishtar nodded to each of the teams as he passed them, and approached Kai and Monty, glancing down at Monty first to assess his condition. Monty was still lying on the table, feet dangling over the end with his clothes tattered and hanging loose where Kai had ripped them open to get the trauma patch onto his heart. Blood-stained and battered, he looked wan, and the small bottle of schnapps had already done its work and he was staring fuzzily at the ceiling. He looked up at Kai and made a motion – inserting something and then turning, and Kai pointed over to Marius.

A few seconds later, Marius had handed over the key and the mining radio to Vishtar. As he was heading out into the tunnel, Kai raised his voice to be heard above the singing.

"Hey Vishtar, which pod shall we take Monty to?" Vishtar replied quickly, with a wry grin.

"You want to take him to your pod? Yeah, that's ok with me, you're renting it after all." Before Kai could respond, he turned and was gone.

Kai scowled at the tunnel, aware that he'd just been dropped with babysitting duties and looked around at the team. As he saw Tads, still sitting and leaning to one side, he pulled out his medkit and moved around to her. Despite her protestations that she was fine, he checked her over and dressed her minor wounds – though his frustration with Vishtar translated into a fairly lousy bedside manner.

The troll finished his song, and there was a smattering of applause from the other occupants of the rec area. Aswon leaned in towards Monty, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

"We have your rifle and pistol safe, by the way. They are ready for you whenever you want them." Monty muttered a thank you, and Aswon retook his seat, watching as the troll launched into another bawdy drinking song. As he did so, Vishtar appeared out of the tunnel, moving across towards the team with an angry look on his face. Without breaking rhythm, the troll slid off the end of the table and moved away, heading back towards his own table and setting himself up there, continuing to sing – and moving away from the operations manager.

"What the hell did you do to my truck! It's wrecked! That's an operational vehicle for the mine, well, it's supposed to be! Who is going to pay for that damage?"

"We didn't have a choice if we were going to get your man here. By the time we had that thing up to speed and to the top of the ridge, they were already closing on his position, attacking his crappy little car with automatic weapons. If we hadn't taken it down the slope, we'd have been too late. And it was them that shot at us. But don't worry, we killed them all for you." Marius didn't sound at all apologetic, and there was an edge of challenge to his response.

"Well, someone is going to have to pay for the damage, one way or another. Who was attacking, and what did they have?"

Marius spent a minute describing the attackers, the groups of bikes and the description of the two fast and powerful cars and the Bulldog van. When he described the security van, Vishtar asked for clarification on the status of it, and seemed very interested when Marius told him that other than some cosmetic damage, a blown out wheel and a new radiator, it was probably not that bad.

"Right then. If you go get that van and tow it back in here, I'll get the guys to fix it up – we can probably sell it on at some point, or maybe even break it down for spares. Do that, and we'll call it quits on the repairs to my truck." Marius looked annoyed, but Kai flashed him a look and told Vishtar they'd do it – then motioned for Marius to follow him out. The two of them headed back to the team's truck, and turned it around in the tunnel, heading back out into the quarry and up the access road.

The rest stayed with Monty, keeping an eye on him. As they sat and relaxed, Aswon cocked his head to one side, then concentrated, carefully filtering out the sounds of singing, and the chatter from his team mates. Slowly the words that had been tugging at the edge of his perception became more distinct.

"I have finished eating, and replaced the cutlery into the bowl. Accepted protocol is to return the bowl to the collection point, which I will do shortly. The newcomers are still tending to the wounded man, it is best to leave him in their care. I will sit back and relax, and enjoy the music." It was the Japanese guy in the strange uniform, muttering quietly to himself as he sat at his table. Aswon listened as he continued to narrate his actions, wondering just what he was doing. Well, whatever it was, it didn't seem to bother his two troll companions or affect them, so he relaxed, letting the other sounds flood back in and drown out the wittering.

Kai and Marius headed up to the top, and through the gate, which was once more opened in silence by the waiting guard. As they drove down the slope, they had ample time to assess the scene. The police car was still there along with a second smaller police vehicle. The tow truck was just about loaded to capacity with the motorbikes, which had been lashed down with straps and rope to stop them shifting around. Most of the bodies had gone, though there were still a number of body bags lying by the side of the road – presumably waiting for a second vehicle. As they got down to the middle switchback, they saw the smaller police vehicle load up the pile of guns and magazines, then turn and drive back towards town, leaving the first car and pair of officers watching over the street. One had lit up a cigarette and was leaning on the side of the car, the other was standing near the mechanic, talking to him as he finished loading the bikes.

Both police officers stopped and watched as they made the final turn, along with the mechanic. They didn't show any particular alarm or concern though, and made no move to grab their weapons. Marius pulled up near the Bulldog and turned to Kai with a raised eyebrow.

"This was your idea. You go talk to them." Kai nodded, then smoothed his features, put on a big smile and climbed down from the truck, approaching the policeman near the car, keeping both hands open and in front of him.

"Good evening sir! I wonder if I might have a word?" The one by the mechanic started to walk over, while the other guy took a deep drag on his cigarette, and nodded for Kai to speak.

"I'm from the vehicle recovery centre, and we noticed that one of our trucks has been caught up in this little fracas. We've just come to tow it away and make some repairs."

The cop flicked his eyes over to their unmarked truck, displaying in "heavy equipment yellow" under the orange street lights, then back at him.

"Do you have a permit?"

"Ahh, I seem to have left my permit back at the office. How stupid of me. I wonder if I could make arrangements for a… temporary permit? One night only kind of thing?"

Another puff on the cigarette. A sideways glance at the second officer, now close by.

"I think we can do that. Perhaps…. Four hundred. Each. In cash."

Kai smiled, then carefully reached into his jacket, moving slowly and calmly. He carefully pulled out a selection of hard currency and passed it over to the policeman, who split the take with his partner.

"I understand the roads are dangerous. Be careful." With that they turned and waved for the mechanic to get into his truck, then followed him down the road towards town. When he turned at the end of the road, following the highway back towards the more built up area, they turned the opposite direction, pulling behind some warehouses.

"Hah. Making sure they can't see what's going on, if they get questioned later. That way they're telling the truth I guess. Come on Kai, I need your help." They worked quickly, attaching the tow cable from their truck to the chassis on the Bulldog, then reeling in the slack and pulling the Bulldog back upright. It landed with a crash, the loose glass from the broken windscreen cascading all over the road. Still, it only took them a few minutes to get the vehicle ready to tow, and then they started the slow process of dragging it up the slope back towards the quarry. The blown out wheel dragged, leaving a trail of rubber behind them and the lack of power made steering a bitch, but with Marius in firm control of the team's truck and Kai fighting to keep the security van pointing the right direction, they made it up the hill and over the brow before the Police car reappeared.

Once they got over the brow, they stopped and checked over the truck, cutting away a big flap of jammed tyre from the wheel arch to try and make things easier for them. They also gave the truck a quick once over to see what it contained – but it was empty. Suspiciously so. They could only assume that it had been carefully cleaned up, probably after whatever job it had been used for last…

Back in the recreation area, the rest of the team had decided to take Monty back to their pod while Kai and Marius were out doing recovery operations. Rooting around outside they found a sheet of thick plastic that would double up as a stretcher, and bought it in to the cave, carefully sliding it under the now drunk form of Monty. Between Hunter, Shimazu, Aswon and Tads, they lifted the sheet up and moved out into the tunnel, starting on the roughly kilometre long walk back towards their sleeping area.

As they entered the pod, they almost dropped the sheet and Monty, as Aswon and Hunter came to an abrupt halt, staring at the red dot that danced over Aswon's chest.

"Nadia? Is that you?" The red dot blinked out, and they saw a dim form climb up from the deep shadow cast between the air intakes of the two massive turbofan engines on top of the chopper. They resumed their walk across the cavern, meeting up with Nadia after she had climbed down from her perch.

"I decided to wait by the vehicle, just in case this was a ruse, or some plan to lure you all out while someone raided our things. I've been keeping watch." The four of them blinked in surprise, taken somewhat aback by the initiative – and the thought, which hadn't crossed anyone else's mind apparently. After laying Monty down carefully in the chopper and making sure he was as comfortable as they could make him, they came back out to check up on Nadia and tell her what had happened. Hunter made a quick check, and then leant over to flick the safety catch over on her SMG, drawing a scowl from Nadia as he did so.

On hearing that there had been a gun battle, Nadia immediately asked about Marius – ignoring the bloody clothing on both Shimazu and Tads, much to their annoyance. Shimazu enacted some small measure of revenge by announcing that he was going for hot food, and missing Nadia out on the order, heading off back down the tunnel without giving her a chance to request a bowl of hot gumbo. Hunter accompanied him, preferring to run food errands rather than being left with a pouting Nadia.

Marius and Kai returned shortly afterwards, having towed the Bulldog van to near the rec-area, leaving it behind the battered mining truck. Just as they arrived, Kai got another call, but kept losing the connection, this far underground. He headed back towards the cave entrance, to get a better signal, while the rest of the team settled down and made themselves comfortable for the night.

Kai settled into the alcove just inside the illusion, waiting for the contact to get back in touch, making himself comfortable on a small wad of high-visibility vests to pad out the shoe rack. Sure enough, two minutes later, the phone rang, and he hit the accept button.

"Is this Kai?"

"It is, who am I speaking to?"

"My name is Ludmilla, Ludmilla Kuzmina. My friend Patrick gave me your name and number, and said you were a resourceful chap that might be able to help me." She spoke with a Russian accent, mixed with something else – it made her sound unusual, and he made a mental note to check on the name. The way she'd announced herself it was as if she expected him to recognise her.

"Ahh yes, we recently worked for Patrick, on a very successful little mission."

"Indeed – and are you in the market for more work at the moment?"

"We are, if the terms are agreeable of course."

"Oh, of course. Well, you see I'm after some plants, for my research. Some very specific plants."

"I'm guessing you have somewhere they may be found, but it's a bit…out of the way?"

"That would be somewhat of an understatement. I require a team to go and fetch me some plants. Dry cuttings and samples if that's what is available, but a live specimen is what I really seek. But that might be challenging. Are you available for that kind of work?"

"I see no reason why not. We need a couple of days to get our craft sorted and resupplied, but then we're ready to go."

"Well, there's no rush on my behalf. I would say it needs to be done by the end of summer – and while our summers are short, they're not that short. But this will be tricky, as I said. If you can get me a large sample of the plants, well preserved and catalogued – probably about 20kg of samples, then I would be happy. Or, if you can get me a viable, live sample. If you can do both, there's a bonus. And for this, I'm happy to pay a quarter of a million." Kai blinked and thought rapidly.

"Well, that sounds quite enticing. I might have to ask for a little more – not much, just a little – to help offset the fuel costs. Our craft are just SO expensive to operate you see."

"Indeed? Well, I might be able to help with that, but I can accept a small increase in the fee for operational costs. So, are we in agreement?"

"Yes, I think we are. I'm sure we can supply your plants for you."

"Excellent, very good. Well, the plant is often referred to as 'Singing Soulweed' – it's some kind of awakened plant, you see, and it grows only in the most unusual circumstances, according to rumour. It appears to rely on a massive temperature differential between the roots and the leaves to prosper, so it's found only in very specific places. The plant has some very unusual and specific leaf shapes and such like – I'll send you some pictures to help you identify them. But anyway, my information is that there are some hot springs in a place called Ozero Pil'tanlor, out in the tundra, where the conditions are just right, and you're likely to find some."

"I see. I'm not familiar with the place, do you have a little more detail?"

"I'll send you a rough map of the area, but it's deep inside Yakut territory, hence needing some specialists to arrange entry and exit. I don't have any contacts in the area of course, otherwise I wouldn't need to farm out to you, but I also understand the locals take a very dim view of people raiding their land, so you would need to be careful with your presence."

"No problem. Well, I'll let my team know and get prepared. When we're ready to go, or have more questions – can I contact you on this number?"

"Of course, I'll make sure it's monitored. Well, I have to go now, the ball is about to start. Goodbye!"

Kai headed back in, checked on the team and didn't say anything about the job – at least not yet. Instead he checked to make sure everyone was comfortable and was ready for a good night of sleep. Come the morning, they headed to the rec-area for breakfast gumbo, with Tads levitating the sheet of plastic carrying Monty like a Roman Emperor – or a sacrificial victim. Either way, he'd regained a bit of colour overnight, and was much more alert, though still in considerable pain and unable to move much.

They were not the only ones in the rec-area, Rocket and his team had not long arrived, and were still ordering food for themselves. The teams chatted for a few minutes, exchanging pleasantries between them. Aswon invited Topshot to their pod, saying he had something to show her, and Hunter likewise invited Rocket over to come and see him. Rocket in turn offered to buy them all breakfast, and the teams grabbed food, dragging one of the tables over to join with theirs so they could set Monty on it, and help him to eat some food. After breakfast, Monty produced a credstick which he offered to Kai.

"There's about five grand on that – reckon I owe you that much, for saving my life. Sorry, that's all I have at the moment – everything else was in the truck." Kai pondered for a moment, but then took the stick, thanking him.

"So, what are you going to do Monty?"

"Get better, one way or another, look for another team. I'm sure someone needs some work doing somewhere. I'll be ok, I think."

"Monty, you can come ride the Bandit if you want. We've got some space for you. As long as you don't mind Spangles and her sexual advances."

"Hey! Just because I'm not a prude!" Spangles retorted. Monty checked with Rocket, that he was serious, and Rocket just nodded.

"Don't worry Monty. We got you covered. You'll get a chance to earn your keep, I'm sure."

Tads had wandered over towards the chef and was having a quiet discussion with him while he moved grease around his woks. The team saw her gesticulate, concentrate and then a steak appeared at the end of her fingers on the prep area, thick red meat with veins of white fat marbling through it. The chef grabbed it with glee and went to work with a cleaver, slicing it into thin slivers and throwing it into a bowl. Tads concentrated again, producing another, then another. When she'd made six, she stopped, breathing deeply and looking a little bemused, then wandered back over to the team moving like she was a tiny bit drunk.

With that sorted, the team left Monty in Rocket's care, heading back towards their pod. Along the way, Kai explained that he had a job lined up, over in Yakut – and that he'd give them a full brief when they got back to the pod. En-route, Aswon drifted near the entrance, firing off a quick message to Sofi in Constantinople, asking if he knew anything about the Russian/Yakut border and conditions, or any intelligence on the area, before heading back to the pod to catch up with the rest.

When they were safely back in their pod, away from prying ears, Kai recounted the conversation with Ludmilla from the previous evening, recounting all of the details. As he covered off what they would have to do, the team took on a glum expression, and Aswon lowered his head into his hands.

"You should have asked for more money boss. That's taking us into the war zone. Not even an exaggeration – literally into a war zone. We might even bump into the brigadier over there!"

With the mission laid out though, the team started to discuss plans – working out distances and fuel economies, whether they should fly or drive, and what to do with the other vehicle whichever way they went. How much of their cargo capacity should be given over for fuel tanks to improve their range…

They'd previously wondered if they could fit the truck into the back of the helicopter, but even the cavernous cargo space of the heavy transport chopper wouldn't accept the truck, mostly due to the massive ground clearance. Marius did point out though that the truck was modular – that the living compartment could be disconnected from the chassis, and that WOULD slide into the back of the chopper, letting them move the toilet, galley, bunks and planning area into the chopper without too much difficulty – though it wouldn't be a quick operation and needed some sturdy lifting equipment.

Kai showed the picture he'd been sent over to Tads and Aswon, but neither of them were familiar with the plant directly – though Aswon did think it looks somewhat familiar in some way. He racked his brain, and eventually realised that he'd seen something like it once, during a coming of age ceremony. The village shaman had a plant that had some similarities to this, and it put people into a heightened state, and sometimes showed if they had magical talent. If this was anything similar, it would explain why it was so desirable.

By the end of the discussion, they at least had a plan of what needed to be done to make the mission vaguely plausible.

First on the list was to secure the rigger control adaptions, and enable Marius to jack directly into the chopper. That needed a decent workshop, but Vishtar said that they had the parts in stock, and that should be simple enough to do.

Secondly, they needed to look at getting additional fuel tanks fitted to the chopper to improve the range, giving them a much larger operating radius. It would eat up their cargo area and load capacity – potentially a lot, depending on just how much fuel they added, but it gave them a lot more options.

Third, they needed to find a smart-link kit to tie the nose turret into the chopper's systems, rather than rely on manual gunnery. They certainly felt that they were flying into harm's way, and it could be the difference between life and death in a gunfight.

Last of all, they needed to look at either moving the drone launch racks from the truck, or getting some new launch bays fitted to the chopper. As they'd seen from the fight on the edge of the reservoir near Tbilisi, the drones were a solid force multiplier, and gave them lots more options in combat – and that was all good.

Aswon urged Kai to get back in touch with their employer, to get some of the cash up front to cover the expenses all of this stuff was going to incur, but Kai seemed a little non-committal on the idea.

With some idea of what to do to get there, and the team bandying ideas around about buying swamp buggies or small 4 X 4s that could fit in the back of the chopper to give them a ground element, they started to get to work on getting their vehicle ready to be worked on – once they found and secured the base mechanic crew.